The fights are bull shyt

Here's a bit of "lore" for you: Back in the mid 1970’s an office ‘gopher’ at Marvel Comics named Chris Claremont was in the right place at the right time for when writer/editor Len Wein of the newly relaunched Uncanny X-Men title realized he couldn’t handle the new load of work, and asked Chris if he wanted it. Of course Chris said “Hell yeah!” And off he went to write stories. Stories that, quite literally, changed not only the comics industry but TV & movies, too. And, I would argue, even content you see people create for marketing, offers, etc. Let’s start with comics. As writer of X-Men during a time when corporate basically ignored it since it was a low “tier” title, he created or co-created some of the most memorable stories in the industry. He did the Dark Phoenix storyline (which got him a bunch of death threats). He did the Days of Future Past storyline which is probably the single most well-known Marvel storyline ever published, with implications that lasted decades. And he did the now infamous “Mutant Massacre” storyline which, while didn’t get him death threats, did create the particular “head” of the corporate monster that ended up eating 17-years of his work a few years later, and crapping it right out again. Then there was TV. Multiple cartoons were created almost exclusively on his stories. And, if you liked (or hated) Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer you can thank Chris. Whedon admitted Claremont’s soap opera-like storytelling was a huge influence on the show. Finally, the movies. They made (so far) two movies about his Dark Phoenix story. (Both of them not even coming close to doing it justice, but still…) They made his Days of Future Past into a movie. (Highly successful) And every X-Men movie from the year 2000 on (they consulted with him to get it right back when nobody in Hollywood thought anyone would watch that first movie) has strands of Chris Claremont’s “DNA” in it — with stories he plotted, characters he created, and even line-by-line dialogue he wrote. As for money? In the last few years of writing the X-Men comics he was making more money than he knew how to spend. He literally had an airplane from the royalties (Marvel paid great royalties to the creative teams back then) if that tells you something. And he was one of the guys who would rub it into the faces of DC Comics creators when trying to poach them (Marvel did a lot of that back then) by dropping hundreds on expensive dinners when trying to woo them to work at Marvel instead. The point: Claremont is easily one the most prolific content creators in history. And one of the most financially successful, too. And in an interview — back in the 80’s I think — he said something that, when I first read it about five years ago, was so profound in its simplicity and so deep in it scope that I wrote it down and started deliberately applying it to my own content going forward. And when I say “content” I ain’t just talking about books, videos, audios, courses, etc. But also emails, sales copy, and even customer service replies in some cases. What Claremont says can apply to all of it. Anyway, so what did he say? He said about his long-running content… “The fights are bull shit” Yes, his comics had lots of fights, and wars, and killing — especially with the character Wolverine, which his whole MO is his rage and fighting and killing enemies with his claws and temper and fast healing powers. But to Chris the fights were really just bull shit. The real power was in the characters' emotional relationships. And if that sounds kind of plain vanilla realize he created characters that formed such a strong relationship with his readers that people literally thought of them as real life people that they really knew! They would even tell Chris (weird and maybe disturbing as it was) to his face — including one lady who was not even crazy, they were their friends, as much as real life, flesh and blood people were. As Claremont put it when talking about one of these fans in particular: “These characters were real to her. Not literally real. But the conflict was real.” Chris was, after all, an actor first. And character was his real strength. And this brings us back to content creation & monetization: I have studied, learned from, and immensely profited from Chris Claremont’s approach to content creation for a very long time. You could say he was the main guy I learned it from — by osmosis probably... just reading and imbibing his stories for years and decades starting back when I was but a wee lad still in middle school, and maybe even earlier than that. And when I got into business I remember applying it to my content. It’s all I really knew at first. And over the years I found his “the fights are bull shit” approach ridiculously profitable and engaging and effective. Something that can be applied to most any piece of content by just adapting what he did to comics to other kinds of content regardless of the media, offer, market, niche, or industry. And yes, I explain how in the April Email Players issue. It’s not so much a content creation “technique” as it is a framework. I both explain it and show you with an example of an email that can be modeled (not really copied & pasted like the goo-roo bums all do) that, for the campaign we ran, got us the most clicks, opens, sales… even though it doesn’t even talk about the offer all that much or list a lot of claims or benefits like copy is “supposed” to do. I’m not saying not to show benefits and claims in your ads or emails. I’m simply saying the framework I show is far more important. And, I argue, does most of the heavy lifting and selling than any claims do. All right enough of his cloak & dagger mystery nonsense. If you want to learn this and a lot of other approaches I am taking to creating and monetizing my own content these days… then this special King-Sized (32 pages vs the usual 20 pages — so not for the fragile, “ooh info overload!” mopes who can’t process anything longer than a listicle) issue shows you how. Tonight’s the deadline though. When I send to the printer that’ll be it and you’ll be too late, Pokey. Here’s the link: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com]( Ben Settle P.S. Here’s a lil’ taste of what’s inside this King-Sized issue: * A content creation secret used by famous actor Gary Cooper to turn otherwise boring, ordinary, bland, and totally “plain vanilla” scenes into fascinating & memorable moments people remembered for years afterwards. (Especially useful if content you sell is otherwise easily found free on YouTube or Google.) * A shrewd way used by everyone from Dr. Seuss to Mister Rogers to even Quentin Tarantino… for creating content people love to pay for and consume even if it’s not mind-blowingly original. * The “fights are bullshit” secret for writing emails that can potentially make lots of sales even if you hardly even mention your product or offer at all. (This is directly from the writer who helped make The X-Men a household name and a billion dollar IP for Marvel Comics. And it can work like a charm when creating other kinds of content, too — from sales copy and emails to books, courses, talks, and everything in between.) * An old school writing trick for making your content so compulsively engaging & hard to stop reading/watching/listening to it might even piss people off! (No joke — doing this not only pisses off Stefania whenever she reads or edits my content… but it even irked my book designer when she was creating the interiors of one of my books.) * 7 ingenious ways (based on what Dungeons & Dragons in the 80’s did to help stop IP theft in its tracks) to aggravate & foil content pirates who are probably drooling right now at the chance to steal and sell your hard work. * The “Scorsese touch” content creation & monetization secret I’ve been using for the last several years to help write emails that sell like crazy without having to constantly hard pitch my offers. (Including helping me sell scads of my perfect bound books that look like they should sell for $13 at Barnes & Noble for as much as a $1,000+ a pop…) * A content creation trick (that's gone all but extinct since the rise of “Influencer” culture) that can help you sell your offers on the sneak inside your content. (I also show you an example of an email doing this that got the highest clicks, opens, & sales for us during a highly competitive affiliate campaign… even though it barely even talks about “the product” or benefits or has all that many claims.) * 2 things amateur copywriters, coaches, & online marketers can do (starting immediately) to help grow a bigger and more influential business than their more talented & well-connected peers and competitors. (These are the exact 2 things I did over 20 years ago to quickly blow right past a lot of my own more talented, better connected, and far superior copywriter and/or marketer peers.) * A cunning way to craft content that can help your business stand out head & shoulders in niches overrun with competition and distractions. * An ancient kung fu fighting tip (used by the late, great copywriter Jim Rutz did a lot in his ads, believe it or not...) that can help make even the most mundane, ordinary, and typical content/information look & feel exciting and sexy. * A 3-point content creation approach pioneered by Earl Nightingale (when he was a radio broadcaster in Chicago) and later perfected by Dan Kennedy (when speaking on the Peter Lowe tour) that can help get your content ridiculously high engagement & sales. * Why always trying to be contrarian or a “rebel” is a recipe for ending up ignored at best or even an abject failure in the content creation game at worst. * How to use your content to seize the coveted “cat bird seat” (i.e., he to whom business seems to flow effortlessly) in your industry. (Old school Mad Men like Olgilvy, Burnett, Norman, Foote, Cone, etc were pros at doing this — and it’s one reason why each had their own horde of clients who gravitated just to them, only wanted to hire them, and often didn’t care how much it cost.) * How to approach content creation in a way where your name and brand can be all but “infused” so strongly in your customers’ braincells they start seeing you almost everywhere and almost in everything they look at! (I won’t say doing this is easy — it’s not — but it is the big secret to how you achieve true marketplace omnipotence where your content can spread to the four corners of the earth and all but sell itself.) * How to summon energy & excitement “on demand” to create content when you don’t feel like it, don’t want to it, and it feels like such a chore you’d rather be doing ANYTHING else but creating content. (The late Heath Ledger tapped into this phenomenon to help create his most memorable performance as the Joker. And I've been using for a long time to pound out all kinds of content even when I'd rather be doing something else. You can, too, if you take this approach to heart, apply it, and work hard at it.) All right that’ll do it. If you want in on time for this issue you have to hurry. Once the deadline hits tonight it’ll be too late. Here’s the link: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com]( This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2024 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this email may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Settle, LLC. Click here to [unsubscribe]( Settle, LLC PO Box 1056 Gold Beach Oregon 97444 USA